Political strategies of zaikai

Japanese business circles (zaikai) are trying hard to establish a two-party system that would enable them to control politics more effectively by distributing donations to two major political parties. At present, they are publicly calling for a consumption tax rate increase and an adverse revision of the Constitution.

An Akahata article on November 5 focused on how zaikai, which represent the interests of large corporations, are trying to control Japanese politics:

Nippon Keidanren

The Japan Business Federation (JBF or Nippon Keidanren), the headquarters of Japan's business establishment came into being in May 2002 through a merger between the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) and the Japan Federation of Employers' Association (Nikkeiren). The JBF has a membership of 1,584, composed of 1,268 companies, 126 industrial associations, and 47 regional employers' association (as of May 31, 2003).

In its May 2002 inaugural convention, the JBF declared active involvement in various issues affecting corporate activities, including economic, industrial, social and labor affairs, and expressed willingness to increase its role in the policy-making process.

The JBF is run by 26 corporate executives. About 50 panels set up in its secretariat annually prepare about 50 JBF policy proposals that are submitted to the government.

The JBF Chairman Okuda Hiroshi (Toyota Motor Corp. chairman) is a member of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, the prime minister's advisory body. He has used its meetings to present the prime minister with the corporate agenda.

Keizai Doyukai

While the JBF functions as a body to hammer out differences among corporations, the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (ACE or Keizai Doyukai, chaired by Kitashiro Kakutaro, IBM Japan chairman) allows its members to speak freely without regard for the interests of specific firms or the category of business they represent.

The ACE, which was founded in 1946, has about 1,400 members. It has produced many "talents" for government-related economic organizations. Bank of Japan Governor Fukui Toshihiko, for example, was the ACE's vice-chair.

Buying policies

The JBF, which publicly calls for an increase in the consumption tax rate up to 18 percent, played a significant role in increasing the rate to the present 5 percent from the initial 3 percent. The business organization also wants corporate tax cuts and reductions in the employers' share of burden for the premiums for social services. In 1999, the Industrial Revitalization Law was enacted. This, too, was what the JBF wanted. The measures included a 900,000 yen corporate tax cut for companies as a reward for every worker dismissal.

Recently, the JBF announced that it would resume donating money to political parties according to ratings of their willingness to cooperate with JBF policies. This is a flagrant act of buying politics.

In January 2003, JBF chairman Okuda called on opposition parties to "move toward acquiring capabilities to assume political power instead of maintaining their position as opposition parties, with a view to establishing a "two-party system".

The ACE, which is the architect of election campaigning with a "manifesto" (election platform), has called for constitutional revision and the elimination of the proportional representation system in the House of Representatives election. These demands are too delicate for the JBF itself to take up.

JCP Chair Fuwa Tetsuzo in his campaign speech on November 3 in Tokyo called on citizens to use their ballots to "frustrate business circles' attempt to pave the way for government to be dominated by political parties that are in favor of a consumption tax increase and the adverse revision of the Constitution." (end)